A JCS official said that the North fired what appeared to be a road-mobile Musudan missile at its eastern coastal region at around 5:30 a.m.

While calling the move a failed attempt, the official explained that the assessment is a joint conclusion reached by the South Korean and the U.S. militaries. Other officials explained that a launch is deemed unsuccessful when the projectile fails to fly on its intended trajectory.

Ahead of the birthday of Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, on Friday, the South Korean military has been closely monitoring the North's missile facilities.

The North deployed its road-mobile Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles(IRBM) near Wonsan in Gangwon Province earlier this week.

Created by modernizing and imitating Russia’s R-27 missiles, Musudan missiles can fly more than three-thousand kilometers. This means that the mid-range missiles can hit targets as far away as the U.S. base in Guam and anywhere in Japan.

The IRBM can carry a nuclear warhead weighing 650 kilograms and chemical weapons. North Korea is believed to have an arsenal of some 50 such missiles.

The missiles can be injected with fuel in 30 minutes and can be preserved at room temperature, allowing them to be ready for a launch for up to a week.

Friday's attempt marks the first time that it sought an actual test-launch of the weapon. North Korea did not declare a no-sail zone ahead of the launch.